A group of liberal organizations filed a lawsuit to stop the Georgia election reform bill that the governor signed Thursday.
The New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, and Rise filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court Northern District. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Vice Chair of the Georgia State Election Board Rebecca Sullivan, and Georgia State Election Board members David Worley, Matthew Mashburn, and Anh Le were named as defendants.
BRIAN KEMP SIGNS SWEEPING ELECTIONS BILL INTO LAW
The bill “is clearly intended to and will have the effect of making it harder for lawful Georgia voters to participate in the State’s elections. And it will impose these unjustifiable burdens disproportionately on the State’s minority, young, poor, and disabled citizens,” the lawsuit claimed.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed an election reform omnibus bill Thursday that will change how Georgia elections are run.
The bill changes voter identification laws, making it a requirement for absentee ballot applicants to use a driver’s license or other documentation instead of a signature. It limits the availability of drop boxes, reduces the time between a runoff election, and prevents members of the public from distributing anything to voters waiting in line.
The bill violates the First and 14th Amendments, in addition to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and will “make voting unjustifiably more difficult for Georgia voters, particularly Black voters,” the lawsuit claimed.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits the use of laws, policies, or practices that deny or abridge voters’ access to the polls or increase the burden for them to vote based on race.
Both proponents and opponents of the changes reference the 2020 election in their reasoning for their support or opposition. Republicans cite a lack of voter confidence as to why the changes are necessary, which they argue will make elections more secure.
Their Democratic rivals claim the changes amount to discriminatory practices designed to hurt minorities and Democrats. Democrats claim the effort is reactionary to their loss in the presidential election and the state’s two Senate seats.
In Georgia, many Republicans said there was fraud that affected the results of the presidential election and subsequent runoff Senate elections, but Democrats point to Raffensperger, a Republican, who has said repeatedly that the election results were accurate after officials conducted a recount requested by former President Donald Trump, an audit of voting machines, and an audit of absentee ballot signatures in Cobb County.
Raffensperger’s office and the lawyer representing the liberal groups did not respond to a request for comment.
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The battle in Georgia regarding election reform is a microcosm happening in states all across the country following the 2020 election both on a state and federal level.
Forty-three states have carried over, prefiled, or introduced a total of 253 bills that would restrict voting access as of February, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning law and policy institute, while there were more than 700 bills filed to expand voting rights in a different set of 43 states.
